Blood
by The Bickering Kingdom
Summary: Sequel to Fire. Finn had never hated blood until that moment.


**Sequel one shot to Fire.**

Julie Finlay had spent years studying blood; the many unique patterns and what was the cause of it, she could look at a photo of blood instantly identify whether it was gun or a knife used to cause it. The size and drops and know if it were a hard punch or a blunt object.

She had attended scenes where both the ceiling and floor shone with blood; it fascinated her until now the sight of it hadn't disgusted her, nor had she hate it. But the blood on her hands, drying underneath her nails and on her clothes was D.B's; her best friend and boss; he should be at home with his wife and children not laying in a hospital bed.

Finn sits on the bathroom floor; her body unwilling to move no matter how much her mind screams to scrub itself clean.

Her mind replays the last few days, trying to put all together to make sense.

The bodies of Helena Cattle and her sister Hannah Swanson lay dead at the breakfast table. Hannah's death was quick, a slit throat, but Helena's was long and drawn out. Bruises and cuts covered her slim body.

Finn knew as soon as D.B found out who the victims were the case was going to get messy. Concern from the moment she phoned him bubbled in the pit of her stomach. He immediately took over the case, assigning Mia to work with Zack.

When they first started working together, him taking over her case and making himself lead CSI would leave her feeling like he had no faith in her abilities as a CSI. Now she knew that it wasn't that at all; if a case was complicated or there could be a backlash over it he'd step in if things went wrong he'd be the one to bear the brunt of the blame.

In this case, it was more him driven by guilt.

Helena's son was the chief suspect in the murder of his stepbrother six months before and burning down a warehouse while Finn was inside. They couldn't prove that Jack had committed either crime, but both she and D.B knew he would kill again. Jack was the number one suspect in Helena's and Hannah's murder.

The neighbours hadn't seen Jack for three days; his school even longer. Finn had spoken to one of his teacher's and got the feeling the school were glad when he didn't turn up.

His biological dad was in prison for a triple homicide. It seemed the apple didn't fall far from the tree; he hadn't had contact with his son for years.

His stepdad had died two years before, and the teenager had no friends to hide him. Jack was a desperate murder on the run, and he was dangerous.

D.B became fixated with bringing Jack in before he killed again, blamed himself for not being able to prove his previous crimes. The scene was combed through again and again for any hint of where the teenager had gone. They had found his videotape of him murdering Helena and Hannah. It was gruesome to watch.

Jack's anger, his hatred for Helena was visible. Brutal and twisted. Finn knew just as much D.B did that level of twisted would strike again not out of need but because it could.

It seemed they were getting okay nowhere fast finding Jack then a tip came in, he'd been seen going into an abandoned warehouse.

Jack wasn't there, he'd been staying at the warehouse, but when they arrived the teenager had vanished. Finn was sure now that the tip-off was from him. He wanted them to find that warehouse.

The fish smell, the grubby floors, the pictures of Finn at crime scenes, leaving her house, at bars or going shopping was stuck on the walls. It was eerie and unsettling; she had to shove the urge to vomit deep down.

D.B squeezed her shoulder, a gentle reassurance that he was there and they would get Jack before he could get near her. She could feel his anger about Jack, feel his worry in her the depths of her soul.

Mia had once said that "It's like you two share a soul split in different bodies. Opposite sides like yin and yang but balance each other out on good days and bad days dragging the worse out each other. It's mesmerizing to watch".

Mia was right. Sometimes that was a brilliant thing, and other times it was like dancing in fire smeared in petrol.

Finding those pictures of her, it spurred D.B on to find Jack more than ever.

Jack came to them. Maybe he was bored of waiting or maybe Jack was insane whatever the reason he came after them.

Inside Finn's head was chaos. She remembered they left the lab for coffee and fresh air.

D.B had sent her inside their favourite coffee shop to get it; it was odd because usually, they went inside together, and he would tease her for taking forever to choose between a brownie or a cupcake. Looking back she knew it was to get her out of the way.

She got the coffees, what had happened to them she didn't know. Maybe Finn had dropped them or set them down when she saw Jack handcuffed to the car door.

Jack was calm; it took a second or two to notice that D.B was clutching his stomach. The long blade on the floor glistened in the sun, stained with blood.

She remembers calling for backup, an ambulance. D.B whispering "It looks worse than it is," comforting her as the world around her shattered; pressing the flimsy jacket she onto his wound, the way Jack watched fascinated by it all.

The warmth of his blood on her skin as it through the jacket. Everything else after was fuzzy. She knows as a CSI she should be able to reel off every detail but she can't.

She can recall the fear she felt, anxiety and when D.B was put in the ambulance like a conjoined twin waking after surgery and being psychically separated from their twin. It was the only way she could describe it. At the hospital, she felt like time had stopped and she had been dragged somewhere, all alone even when Barbara arrived she still felt like that

It wasn't until the doctor told them D.B was going to be fine that Finn felt she was real, breathing, in the world again.

She had seen him afterwards, they joked about how usually it was Finn that ended up in the hospital. He needed to be Barbara, his wife and Finn understood that so she left and came home. Part of her had wanted to go back to the lab but her head was in such a mess that she'd be no use there.


End file.
